Seven Things you didn’t know about Mexico

It’s been said the next best thing to being rich is traveling as if you were. And what an era we live in to make this axiom a reality. If there’s one thing that’s indisputable about 21^st Century international travel, it’s the abundance of once-exclusive experiences that are now within grasp of us common folk.

Within a single generation, exemplars of status and extravagance are now enticingly accessible to the masses. Cocktails on the jungle veranda? Safari, servants, and the Serengeti? River cruise past storybook medieval castles? No problem. Pack your bags.

Luxury Defined?

Travel industry marketers use imagery –not words – to evoke luxury. Just flip through any travel magazine to see this practice in action. But what really defines this elusive and highly personal concept?  Treat, extra, extravagance, indulgence, bonus, amenity, frill? Pleasurable self-indulgent activity? Often displayed but rarely defined, luxury too often swoops our minds toward media-driven hyperbole: fast cars, sparkling jewelry, and skinny, beautiful people usually standing (or lying) about doing nothing but looking ‘luxuriant’.

If luxury’s real meaning weren’t enough to ponder, luxury means different things to different travelers. One man’s floor is another man’s ceiling. A simple guestroom upgrade or club level floor can be all that’s needed for most travelers. Others may only be fulfilled having conquered the next ‘it’ attraction or securing the impossible dinner reservation. So, like all truly remarkable and memorable travel experiences, new ways of looking at Mexico travel are prescient.

Across Mexico, the opportunity to treat, indulge and surpass your travel expectations is becoming easier and easier. If you harbor doubts about Mexico’s “luxury” credentials here are some easy-to-research travel opportunities to consider for 2022.

High Class in the Highlands

While coastal Mexico has a renowned assortment of top-shelf luxury options, it’s the country’s

interior states

that deserve renewed attention. Historic homes, mansions and estates have opened their doors as boutique inns – most combining the latest in room amenities with antique appointments and classic European styling.  States like Michoacán (Morelia, Pátzcuaro), Guanajuato (San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato), and Querétaro (Tequisquiapan, Querétaro) have both proprietor-managed, intimate hotels and sprawling estates.  A good place to start exploring is

Mexico Boutique Hotels

and their inventory of over 40 unique properties.

Heritage, History & Haute Cuisine

If there’s any one state of Mexico that abound with assets surpassing many countries, it’s utterly fascinating

Oaxaca

. It’s jaw-dropping cultural and culinary diversity is nicely packaged with some of Mexico’s loveliest small inns. These treasures include places like the

Quinta Real

— a 91 room former convent in the historic center, or the elegant

Palacio Borghese

. Oaxacan cuisine varies widely due to a mountainous landscape and extremely varied climates in which foods are produced. Oaxaca’s gastronomy is known for its “seven moles,” chapulines (dried crickets), Oaxaca tamales in banana leaves, and mescal (a rebellious cousin of tequila). Get a table at restaurants like Chef Alejandro Olmeda Ruiz’

Casa Oaxaca

, or

Los Pacos

for a traditional Oaxaca style mole sampler, or

Cathedral

for regional seafood. Spend days with a private guide touring the region’s craft villages or stroll Mexico’s most colorful indigenous markets.

Hecho en México

If you’ve toured Spain or France you’ve probably seen the ‘Denominación de Origen Protegida’ (DOP) – a EU designation referring to food products specific to a particular region conveying a particular quality or characteristic of the designated area. You’ll see it on Spanish olives, wine, cured ham and French champagne and truffles. How does Mexico fit in? Foodies from around the world come to explore and taste Mexico’s current ‘DOP’ delicacies. There are 11 of these unique (and is some cases endemic) ‘foods of the Gods’.

What would be more delectable than an itinerary taking in three of the world’s luxury food leaders:

vanilla, coffee, and chocolate

. Two of these are native to Mexico and all three are grown, harvested, cure,d and consumed along Mexico’s seldom-visited Gulf Coast (states of Veracruz and Tabasco). And with non-stop flights from Houston to Veracruz and Villahermosa, what are you waiting for?

Palate Pleasures

Chef Enrique Olvera is the newest celebrity chef to gain the attention of the American media. A recent issue of WSJ Magazine featured the 37-year-old chef and owner of restaurant

Pujol

in Mexico City. With 48 seats and 27 chefs, Pujol has cracked the world’s S. Pelligrino rankings as # 36 in the world. Mexico City hails as Mexico’s culinary capital and dining is a grand, multi-course, dress-up affair. Then there’s the Riviera Nayarit’s

Gran Velas Nuevo Vallarta

— home to not one but TWO AAA Five Diamond eateries.

Other leading gastronomic destinations include Puerto Vallarta. There are so many fine chefs and award-winning restaurants in that a great place to start is the November gourmet festival. Zihuatanejo touts its ‘Costa meets Culture’ nouvelle cuisines and La Quinta Avenida in Playa del Carmen has so many great restaurants you could spend a month there and dine somewhere different every night. Or consider Mérida with its unique blend of Maya, French and Lebanese cuisine. Dine on gourmet regional cuisine at

Nectar

with award winning chef Ernesto Solis.

Deserts Make Dreams

There’s something that makes luxury in a desert setting seem almost innate. Maybe it’s the stark, hardscrabble landscape coupled with cozy amenities and fine dining. Or broad vistas, solitude and searing dryness surrounding an outdoor spa. There’s something that draws luxury leaders to places like Sedona, Scottsdale, Santa Fe and St. George.

Mexico’s Baja deserts must have the same magnetism. Baja Sur serves visitors a silver tray of the world’s most renowned purveyors of luxury. Ritz-Carlton, Auberge, One&Only, and Rosewood all call Cabo home. The destination has two AAA Five Diamond winner and an amazing 15 properties earning the AAA Four Diamond ranking. So look no further than the Baja tip for Mexico’s grandest gaggle of award winning digs.

Mexico’s Happy Coast

Unbeknownst to many Mexico experts, there’s a stretch of Pacific shore that seldom finds its way into tour operator brochures or web seller specials of the week. It’s Mexico’s exclusive and environmentally pristine CostAlegre. South of Puerto Vallarta, beyond the shores of Banderas Bay is a 100 mile stretch of estuaries, coves, plantations, and secret resort hideaways that see more private jet and helicopter traffic than the rest of Mexico’s Pacific coast. Google places like

Costa Careyes, Quemaro, El Tamarindo

, and

Isla Navidad

to explore this area’s luxury options.

Cortés Slept Here, So Can You

Sometimes luxury assumes an air of historic grandeur. While Europe has it castles and the Caribbean its plantations, Mexico has haciendas. Two regions of Mexico excel in offering working ranchos turned luxury accommodations. The state of

Morelos

(south of Mexico City) was once the private domain of Conquistador Hernán Cortés. The

Hotel Hacienda Vista Hermosa

was founded by Cortés in 1529, abandoned during the Mexican Revolution, and reopened in the 1940’s. Cortes’ former bedroom can even be rented! There are other choices across Morelos State – all former sugar cane estates that today espouse lovely gardens, aqueducts, golf courses, wedding chapels and genuine Old-World artifacts. Mexico’s other key region for living like a Spanish Count combines the adjacent states of

Campeche and Yucatán

. Here the hacienda experience is infused with Mayan culture both old (nearby ruins) and new (the chance to interact with a local community or school). Look to the

Starwood Luxury Collection

or

Mexico Boutique Hotels

and you can’t go wrong.